Best comic book covers of the week – 22 February 2021

Posted on February 22, 2021

3 min read

Hulk has always been Hulk, but Bruce Banner wasn’t the first person to tap into the power of Gamma radiation and transform into an unstoppable muscle monster. This May, Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters will reveal the “Original Hulk’ a young boy who millenia ago unlocked the power of the Green Door that has been a focal point in writer Al Ewing’s current and disturbing Hulk run. “10,000 years ago, something green and glowing comes to poison the ancient ground of the Fertile Crescent — and the hearts of its people,” reads Marvel’s synopsis of this one-shot.

One boy is left to bear the consequences — and, for the first time…to open THE GREEN DOOR.

Alex Paknadel writes off of a plot that Ewing set up, which also features the art of Juan Ferreyra. If you’re wondering just what the heck the greenest of doors is, quick history lesson! In Ewing’s Immortal Hulk, the Green Door connects to a metaphysical realm known as the Below-Place, which is essentially Marvel’s version of the Home for Infinite Losers. Or proper hell, to be exact.

The catch here is that this hell is reserved solely for individuals who possess Gamma radiation abilities, and they’re able to leave this dimension if they so choose to. That leads to a resurrection if certain conditions are met, which also explains how some of Hulk’s most persistent enemies have managed to supposedly cheat death. Or at the very least, stay deceased for a convenient amount of time before they return to the land of living.

Here’s the biggest catch: When Bruce Banner was caught in the original gamma bomb explosion, he didn’t survive it all. The radiation killed him and sent him to the Green Door, which also gave Banner a chance to resurrect himself as the Hulk. Sixty years of story later, and Banner has developed into a character who hides multiple Hulk personalities under his skin.

Long story short, go read Immortal Hulk, it’s bloody brilliant and the creepiest incanration of the Hulk to ever hit the printed page. With that bit of business done, on to the best comic book covers of the week!